Defense attorneys for two accused child sex assaulters and pornographers Julie Thiemann and Billy J. Schrader said Monday that federal law won’t let them look at evidence without being subject to prosecution themselves.

Thiemann and Schrader both stood mute in Lincoln County District Court. A plea of not guilty was entered for them.

The couple is accused of seven counts of child sexual crimes, including four counts of manufacturing child pornography.

Defense attorney Kent Florom told the court that he needs to see the electronic devices that were allegedly used to photograph and film the porn, but if he looks at it, he is technically guilty of participating.

If he can’t look at it, his client, Schrader, is deprived of his constitutional right to an attorney.

Even if the state were to agree not to charge Schrader, he could still be prosecuted federally, he told District Court Judge Richard Birch.

Birch took no action on the situation.

Florom said the county attorney has offered to go with him to the sheriff’s office to look at the evidence, but he needs to get it to someone who can verify the times it was uploaded or modified.

Earlier in the day, Thiemann initially pled not guilty to the charges, but defense attorney Steven Potter successfully re-entered her plea as “mute” later Monday.

Schrader, 31, reportedly had sex with a 7-year-old girl and had photographs of child pornography on his computer devices. Thiemann, 32, allegedly participated, photographed that act and others, and she committed other acts as well, prosecutors say. They were arrested in December.

In all, both Thiemann and Schrader are each charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child, felony child abuse, possession of child pornography and four counts of manufacturing -- crimes that could put them away for their lifetimes.

They remain in the Lincoln County Jail. Theimann's bond is $500,000. Schrader's is $250,000, according to sheriff's records.